Christmas 2014 - the main card

Extreme Close UP!!!!  Yeah, because that entire image is very small.  I tried to make this card last year and wasn't happy with it.  I only revisited it after failing with my first choice card this year.  Sometimes you just can't force it.

And here is the load I made - I forgot to take the photograph before I had addressed them to go out, but wanted this photo for prosperity!

In the end I made around 80 nearly identical cards for my mass production.  Even streamlining as much as possible, I guesstimate that each card took around 30 minutes to complete from scoring, cutting, stamping, coloring, embossing, masking, stamping, embossing.  All those little steps take time.  I think I timed the coloring taking me about 7 mins per card.  That's why I had to do the extreme close up to appreciate the little bit of shading and texture I did in that image.  Even using warm grays for the fur and cool grays for his beard.  Then coloring the whole Santa image with Versamark to emboss it.

I did some test runs before I decided on the final finish of the card and although to be honest the embossing was a pain in the bum, it definitely needed it to give that final finish to the card.
Ingredients
Card size -  4 1/4" x 5 1/2";
Cardstock - Recollections 110lb white;
Stamps - Whispers;
Ink - Memento: tuxedo black, cottage ivy; Versamark pen;
Color - Copics (warm gray, cool gray, skin tone, blush tone, green, 2 reds (one for shadow), gold tone, darker gray)
Accessories - Clear embossing powder, Stamp-a-ma-jig, small T square.

Christmas Roundup Part 3

So I was in such a rush to get my cards out I only managed to photograph a third of the ones I made.

I made all the envelopes with my envelope board and matching cards from the off cuts.  I love how they turned out.

I went through the paper pad and pulled everything out that was absolutely Christmas. That was 34 different patterns x 3.

These were meant to be simple cards but I don't know if you can call it simple to round all those corners...

Stamp and die cut the greeting and matc...

And score and paper pierce the strips of red cardstock to add texture and interest.

So much for that "Clean and Simple" Christmas I had promised myself to do this year!

Ingredients

Card size - A2;

Cardstock - Recollections red cardstock, Fa La La La paperpad; Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Smooth;

Stamps - Justrite Stampers

Ink - Memento Love Letter

Accessories - We R Memory Keepers Envelope board; Scor-pal; Cutterbee piercing tool.

Christmas Card 2012 - Red Nose Knows!

These are my "bulk" Christmas cards this year.  I know "Shock" "Horror" "Gasp" "How can you"?  I have my reasons.  Even when I used to buy my cards from the shop I didn't like trying to select which card went best to whom.  It just isn't me.  It is far better for my own personal well being this time of year to send almost everyone the same card.  I admire those who don't stress with these small decisions however, that is not me.  So help me celebrate me and let me know what you think.

To be honest I think the process is pretty self evident.  The stamps are Clear dollar dear stamp and the greeting from Kitchen Sink Stamps.  I did test out some combinations before I went with the black sentiment, but it was the most pleasing to my eye on this card. 

It took about 8 hours to complete 104 cards.  I will be honest I thought I was making 100 but somewhere along the line miscounted.  Better to be on the safe side right? LOL!  I cut 26 sheets of white cardstock down into four 5 x 3 3/4 rectangles. I was able to stamp both the sentiment and the deer at one time so I just kept stamping until I got to the bottom of the stack.  Then I took the stack and colored until I got to the bottom of the stack.  As I colored with Copics I made certain to move the card onto a piece of paper to color because of color saturation through the cardstock.  Once those were done, I went through and colored the noses red.  This was more of a safety feature in case the rhinestones came off the card the reindeer would still have a red nose.

At this point I scored and cut down 52 pieces of kraft cardstock for the base.  Once I folded these, I attached the top layer to the base.  Then I glued on red rhinestones.  I will be honest with you, these rhinestones were self adhesive but the adhesive was very flexible and I just didn't feel it was secure enough.  I did a test run with some Martha Stewart glitter adhesive and boy does that stick! So I used it on all the cards to adhere the rhinestones.

My next worry was the post office machinery destroying them.  So I decided to line my envelopes with cardstock.  Because it is best if the cardstock is texture I just went for it and sent all this through a wintery embossing folder before I adhered it to the inside of the envelope.

Once the envelopes were complete I set out to make my inserts for the cards I will send out and stamped the backs.  I won't go into trying to sort out my printer/computer- ok my brain so that it all looked right!

The other thing I do is try to hand address the cards.  I have had bad experiences in the past with using labels and they don't get delivered because it is assumed they must be from businesses etc.  So hand address I do.

Ingredients
Card Size - 5.5 x 4.25 inches (13.97 cm x 10.79 cm)
Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Smooth, Recollections Kraft, Georgia Pacific white cardstock
Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps - deer, Kitchen Sink Stamps
Ink - Memento
Color - Copic, Sakura Red Stardust gel pen
Accessories - 3mm red rhinestone, Embossing folder

Christmas window...

 

So my wonderful husband looks at me when I show him this card for his mother and says "Don't take this the wrong way" uh oh... now what I'm thinking "But" ok here it comes "that looks professional" What! Huh! I guess he wanted to ensure his "Husband of the Year Award" was still intact! - Now don't get me wrong I can totallly see how someone could take that the wrong way but I didn't.  I'm so pleased that I am still grinning ear to ear!  And I also know it means it is something he would have picked out for his mother so double win!

 

First things first this is a CASE of all those fantastic Madison Window dies... oh how I have pined for one.  However, I remembered that I had these die cuts going unloved in my stash so no die buying for me!  It is also specifically inspired by this card in the SCS gallery. Just how beautifully elegant is that card.

I had to make changes as I don't have that die, embossing folder, or stamps.  I hope you like what I have done.

I stamped the tree on a bit of cardstock and colored it in.  If you look carefully it is a very "British" tree with crackers and a fairy on top.  There is lots of bling and sparkle on there too with my Sakura stardust and metallic pens.  The whole scene is colored with copics.

I then placed my window die over the tree to get the best fit and cut the tree scene to window size.  I then cut some acetate packaging down to be the window panes.  When placing it on the scene I didn't like it directly on the scene so I used another window die cut to create depth and then adhered it all together.

As this was drying, I worked on the background.  I created a mask so the stamp wouldn't leave sharp edges and then stamped it in the middle of some red card stock.  The red was really too red so I knocked back that color with some copic reds and greys that I airbrushed on to get the effect I wanted.

After I placed the window on the scene, I wanted the foliage to come out of a window box so I just hand cut and layered a few bits of scrap cardstock using an edge from where I had cut a die to give some interest to the very top layer.  I punched a variety of green branches and then adhered them to the box.  To finish this off I tied a small red bow and a stardust pen to give the greenery sparkle.

I generated the sentiment on my computer.

 

Ingredients
Card Size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Smooth, Recollections red,
Stamps - tree unknown bought in England, Bricks - Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink - Memento
Color - Copics, Sakura stardust and metallic pens
Accessories - Window diecut (unknown), Acetate packaging, Martha Stewart branch punch

 



 

Tilt - a Ho Ho Ho!

This card looks simple right... well let me tell you.... it took forever to make!

Now a single tilt probably wouldn't have taken so long but I needed these to line up and then I needed them to be bottom heavy to actually tilt so that required and extra weight on the bottom of each "Ho" to help it swing.

The "HO"'s are a Justrite alphabet that I stamped in versamark, embossed with zing glitter embossing powder.  They really do sparkle.  Like my Christmas Cod Card I stamped 3 hats on a sheet of red scrap and cut them out and applied liquid applique which I heated to puff up.  These were mounted together on a diecut green circle. 

The front panel was run through my Grand Caliber twice to cover the card.  This type of situation is exactly what I bought it for - when I want to emboss the entire front of a card and the embossing is at 90degrees from the panel and needs a larger platform.  Luckily I didn't get rid of my cuttlebug.  I use it most for smaller things, however it is great to still have those plates to run my embossing folders through my Grand Caliber without messing about with shims.

Ingredients
Card Size - 8.5 in x 5.5 in
Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Smooth, Bazzill
Stamps - Justrite Stampers, High Hopes Stamps (santa hat off a santa image)
Ink - Memento, Versamark
Accessories - Zing green glitter embossing powder, Liquid Applique, 9 pennies, Spellbinders circle dies.


just wanted to show off the texture and dimension on this card in this last picture.

The stockings were hung

This is for my nephew and his girlfriend, they have recently set up house together so I thought I would acknowledge that with their 1st Christmas card together from us.

I will be honest.  I'm not happy with this.  Maybe it needed more white space or solid color.

What I do like is the velvety texture of the stockings/and the dark green sections on the DP.

The stockings are die cut.  I die cut the tops of the stockings and then split the paper to get the soft, fabric texture. 

Ingredients
Card Stock - Neenah Classic Crest, Solar White, SEI velvet paper, Bazzill, Me & My Big Ideas
Color - Sakura metallic gold pen
Dies - Quickutz stocking dies, Spellbinders circles.

General Christmas Cards

Wow! Nearly six months later and I am posting my general Christmas Cards 2011!  Better late than never right? Anyway I think they are a pretty classic design.  I took inspiration from a GinaK StampTV video she posted before Christmas.

The process itself was pretty straightforward. I scored and cut my 8.5 x 11in card stock to make small cards.  I did them to open longways.  I then cut down card stock to 4 x 5.25 inches, dry embossed them with Snowflakes impressabilities and die cut a circle in the lower right hand corner (I did make a jig to keep it consistent).

I then used the jig to to place my sentiment on the base.  Stamping with Versamark and gold embossing to the sentiment and edges to match.  Afterward attaching the dry embossed panel to the front to complete.

Ingredients

Card size - 4.25 in x 5.5 in

Card stock - Georgia Pacific

Stamps - Inkadinkado Warm Winter Wishes

Ink - Versamark

Dies - Spellbinders circle die, Snowflakes Impressabilities

Misc - gold embossing powder

Pom Flower Christmas

Wow! I have had this post queued up since the New Year.  I can’t believe it has taken me this long to get around to posting it.  As we all know life just sometimes gets in the way.  Luckily it was nothing overtly dramatic, just life itself.  So I created this card for my Mother in law for Christmas.  Now if you dust the cobwebs from my blog you will remember I did a similar felt flower pin in November.  I decided to dress it up a bit and add some beads to it.  There are plenty of tutorials on how to make the pin on the internet.  TBH it is very simple and I’m not going to re-invent the wheel here.  The big thing I had to overcome is how to adhere it to my card so the recipient wouldn’t destroy the card taking it off AND getting it into an envelope.

I was very lucky as my dear husband gave me a Grand Caliber for Christmas (when I found an incredible end of stock deal) that he let me use before Christmas.  I’m sure it helped that I explained my concept that I needed it for a card for his mother *wink, wink*  I used some of my hoarded lovingly acquired stash of Christmas cardstock that will most likely last me through my old age and then some.  I liked the idea of the repetition of flowers, even though they weren’t identical to the one I made.  I think it was more important to have the continuity of idea and colors.  I cut one of the largest sizes for the front of the card and some American Craft cardstock for the background.  I think off set the large die and cut it to fit on the front of my large card.  I used some Versamark and gold embossing powder on the edges of the die cut to make it pop from the background a bit more.  I used a smaller die to make a base for the flower pin.  Stamped and embossed the pin base and the card base.  My brain storm came when I used fun foam to create depth needed to put the pin on the small base and not mark the larger die cut on the card.  I used repositionable glue on the pin base so that it could easily be removed from the card.

My next brainwave was how to package the card.  Now it is at this point that I probably need to point out that I was sending this as part of a larger package to my in-laws with presents and other cards enclosed.  Space was a premium.  I have to admit I was rather impressed with myself for thinking about making a peek-a-boo window in the envelope itself for the pin to pop through.  My family said it was as if Rudolph got nosy!

Hopefully the pictures make it all pretty self explanatory.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Ingredients

Card size - 8.5in x 5.5in
Cardstock – Neenah Classic Crest, American Crafts
Stamps – Inkadinkado “Warm Holiday Wishes”, Kitchen Sink Stamps “Whole Family”
Ink – Versamark
Accessories – Gold Embossing Powder, Spellbinders Grand Dies, Fun Foam, Felt, pin back, Beads, wiring,
Technique – Stamping with heat embossing

Reverse Paper Piecing?!

Just how else would you describe this except for reverse paper piecing?  Maybe I'm just used to seing paper piecing using vibrant cardstock to fit within the stamped lines.  This time I wanted a vibrant background for my snowman

Not that you can tell from this picture but the santa hat is actually the same color as the ribbon.  Both are pink.  And yes, they are the exact same color because I colored in the white ribbon with my copics so I am absolutely certain of that! LOL.

Ingredients

Card size 8.5 in x 5.5 in

Cardstock - Neenah for base and snowman, Me & My Big Ideas- Sugarplum (2010) for background

Stamps - Stampendous Jumbo Snowman

Ink- Memento

Color - Copic, Sakura metallic silver

Accessories - white grosgrain, mirri snowflake.